Out with the old, in with the new?
by 1morning glory1
Summary: Letty's been in love with Dom since she was 10. She's not 10 now. What happens if someone new arrives? Will she stay committed to Dom? Will it cause Dom to finally confess his love to Letty? Or will Letty explore a new avenue?
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys, so this is my first fanfic. I do enough reading of them but have never actually written one. Hope you enjoy

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any characters from The Fast and the Furious. It's all fun and games.

"Who is that?" I asked Mia, who had her nose in the textbook- the only one I could see that was actually attempting to complete the reading the teacher had just asked us to do.

"Hm?" she asked, distracted.

"That," I pointed. "Who is that?"

"I don't know. Must be new." With that, she returned her focus to the book.

This was a public Los Angeles high school. I imagined that new students enrolled every single day. But this was a different kind a new. A new that I noticed. A new that I liked.

I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was cute, to say the least. Long, shaggy brown hair. That was not typically my style. But it worked on him. It framed his face. He had very sharp facial features. He was tan. It didn't look like a natural tan, more like a sun-kissed tan. He wore a collard shirt. I didn't know too many people who even owned a collard shirt, let alone wear it to school. But he didn't look like a dork. Quite the opposite actually. He looked like, well I wasn't quite sure yet. But I definitely wanted to find out.

"Ah, Mr. Reynolds I presume," the teacher addressed the new guy.

He just nodded his head in acknowledgement. He had his hands stuck in the pockets of his jeans. He was tall, really tall, and slender.

"Why don't you take that one," the teacher pointed over in my direction, "second from the back."

The new guy began to mosey, slowly, towards the seat directly beside me. This seemed rather lucky. He reached the seat and dropped his bookbag on the ground. He slid into the desk and slumped back. Just then, he looked over in my direction. Briefly, we made eye contact.

"Hey," he said, his voice deep and masculine.

"Hey," I responded, trying not to sound nervous. I couldn't be nervous. The only guy that had ever made me nervous before had been Dominic. This certainly wasn't Dominic. Not even close.

"So, this class pretty cool?" he asked.

"No, not really," I honestly answered, looking him over a little more closely.

"Awesome," his sarcasm pieced through. He shot me a half-smile before turning his head towards the front.

I assumed the teacher started talking but I couldn't hear anything but my heart beating. I was sure you could see it right through my shirt. What exactly was happening here? I'd never even thought about liking anyone but Dominic. Of course, even though I liked Dominic, it didn't seem to matter. But this, this was different. This was…new.

Alright, so perhaps I should back up a bit. This day started out like any other day. School. School was a crock of shit in my opinion. Completely and utterly useless towards the direction of my life. But I went, most of the time. Enough not to call great attention to myself. I preferred to stay under the radar. Since I was ten my life had been fairly normal. Well, normal compared to my life before ten.

Before ten I lived in the Dominican Republic. No one in my town even owned a car. If you had three walls on your "house" you were living large. It was an agricultural community on the Western side of the island. But when I was ten my Dad died. My mother packed us up and moved us to California to live with an aunt she had.

I remember the car ride to the airport. Weaving in and out of the other cars on the road was a little intimidating. And the car horns seemed so loud. Then, getting into the airplane was like getting ready for space travel. The plane moved fast. Very fast. I liked it.

When we arrived in California there were cars everywhere. Fast ones, slow ones, and all the colors in a box of crayons. I liked all the colors. They reminded me of the rainbow. Before my Dad died he told me that anytime I saw a rainbow to think of him, so that I could stand underneath his colors. That, I think, is where my love of cars first emerged.

We lived just down the street from the Torettos. My aunt, who I had never met until that day, was friends with Mrs. Toretto. I didn't speak a lot of English at first. But, I picked it up quickly, mainly because I had no other choice. Mia was the first kid I met, and quickly became the first friend I'd ever had. We did typical things that children of the 80's did. We enjoyed playing in the ocean, skating rinks, and very competitive games of Mrs. Pac-Man.

Not a lot of days stand out in my memory. As previously mentioned, seeing my first cars was one of them. Another one of them was meeting Dominic Toretto for the first time. He was…he was something else. A force to be reckoned with. A natural born leader, cocky as hell from the very first day. And he had this look. It wasn't handsome, it was seductive. I was ten. He was thirteen. I don't think Dominic ever went through those awkward puberty years. One day he was a kid, the next day he was….Dom. It is easy to say that I fell in love with him on sight.

A mixture of my love for colors, and my love for Dom (though I could never let him know it), led to my love for the garage. It was my point of convergence.

But I feared that after meeting "the new guy" my world was about to be rocked.

TBC

So what did you think? Read and Review!


	2. Chapter 2

"So, what do people do around here for fun?" the new guy asked as the bell rang.

I was gathering up my books and almost didn't notice he was talking to me. "Um, well, guess it depends what you're into."

"Hm, that's nice and vague," he said, shooting me another one of those half-smiles. "What are you into?"

Was he hitting on me? Surely not. I don't think I'd recognize if a guy was. But, I was probably imagining it all in my head.

"Uh, I guess sometimes we go to parties, hang out on the strip, go to the beach. Depends," I responded. I failed to mention the car races. He didn't really strike me as a 'car race' kind of guy. And I didn't exactly want to bring him to the races.

We walked out of class, together. Mia had sped up down the hall. Heaven forbid she be two seconds late for her last period, or any period for that matter.

"What class do you have next?" he asked, looking down at his schedule and then around the halls.

"Auto shop," I told him. "You?"

"Um…chemistry. Room 301. You know where I can find a chemistry class in room 301?" He looked confused. And lost. I couldn't help myself.

"Yeah, um, I'll show you where it is," I told him. Granted my class was in the completely opposite direction. And I was pretty sure that if I got another tardy I was going to have detention. But, carpe diem. Seize the day. I sure as hell was going to seize this daily moment.

"Thanks," he said, stuffing his schedule back into his pocket. "I'm Luke by the way."

"Letty."

"Letty," he repeated. "Letty in auto shop."

"Yeah, what of it?" I asked, a tad defensive.

"Nothing," he shrugged. "It's just interesting is all."

I'd been called many, many things. Interesting was never one of them. I chose not to respond. I didn't really know how to respond to that. I thought he was pretty interesting too. Not because I actually knew anything about him.

"So, Luke in chemistry, where ya from?" I asked mockingly. It was the best I could come up with.

"Hawaii, born and raised. Northern side of the island," he stated, as if everyone was very familiar with the Hawaiian Islands.

"Oh yeah," I responded, as if I was very familiar with the Hawaiian Islands. "Cool, man."

"Yeah, I guess. LA definitely is a lot bigger. Seems like there's got to be a lot more stuff to do besides surf and work."

So I had a Hawaiian surfer boy on my hands. And the plot thickens…

"You're gonna wanna take these stairs right here," I pointed. "Then it's gonna be that first door on your right." I stopped. I didn't really want to stop. I was curious now. He was much more interesting than the company I typically kept. He was from somewhere cool. All my friends practically grew up on the same street.

"Oh." He seemed somewhat surprised. "Alright, well, thanks for the tour."

"No problem Hawaii," I said as I turned and walked away. Just then, the bell rang. Shit, just my luck.

"Leticia Ortiz," a stern voice I knew all too well called out from behind me. I didn't even want to bother turning around. "I happen to know that this is your fourth tardy this week. That means detention. I guess we will be seeing each other tomorrow after school."

I turned around and looked him in the eye. What an asshole. What kind of power-hungry shithead wants to become a high school administrator? Probably someone who had no friends themselves in high school and was destined to make kids these days pay for it.

"I don't know, Mr. McCauley. I think it's only my third," I said. I knew it was my fourth. He knew it was my fourth. But it was worth a try.

He just looked at me. If looks could kill, believe me I'd be dead so many times around. "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon. And I'll be calling your mother to inform her of your recent disciplinary infraction. Again."

As he walked past me I said, "well, tell her I said hi."

He paused briefly but kept walking.

As I made my way to auto shop, I couldn't help but think of how I got involved in the garage. And how everything changed when Dom turned sixteen.

I hung out at the garage with Mia everyday after school. I was mainly buying time until my Mom got off from her job at the hotel. I don't know if it was the fumes or mesmerizing sparks flying, but my interest in how these cars worked, and how they could work better, was immediately awakened. The fact that this newfound interest allowed me to spend more time with Dominic was just an added bonus.

Mr. Toretto was a good teacher, slow and patient.

Those first three years of living in LA sort of ran together. Dom didn't notice me. I didn't tell anyone that I was secretly obsessed with him…life was fine. Each day I learned more and more about cars. And each day I learned more and more about Dom. He didn't seem to mind me being around, at least not after I got the gist of things and was actually able to be of some use. I did easy jobs at first, oil changes, tire rotations, but eventually graduated into more extensive jobs like replacing the clutch plates and installing new suspensions or exhausts.

When Dom turned sixteen, things took a slight turn. The day of his birthday, March 16th, a day I am doomed to remember until I die, started out really fun for everyone. Birthdays with the Torettos were always pretty awesome.

I was thirteen. And, unlike Dom, did experience those awkward years of puberty. Grunge was in and I was sporting that look. In my eyes, the sun rose and set over bands like Soundgarden, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Pearl Jam. Vince and I bonded over music during those years.

Dom wanted to celebrate his sixteenth birthday by having a party- surprise, surprise. He wanted a keg but Mr. T would not go for it- surprise, surprise. So the guys settled on trying to sneak beer in under his nose. Mr. T went out, an attempt to be a cool adult and give his son some privacy. Mia was invited because it was her house. So if Mia was invited, naturally I was invited as well.

Around nine o'clock the party was in full swing. The house was wall-to-wall people. Many of which I did not know. Mia and I were standing awkwardly aside, looking around and trying to figure out exactly what to do.

"I have an idea," Mia said, grabbing my arm and pulling me upstairs.

"Mia, I may need my arm someday. Could you loosen the grip a little?" I felt like my arm had just been pulled out of socket as we made our way into her bedroom.

"We need to change," she said matter-of-factly.

"Like how?"

"Well, for starters, this look you have going on," she eyed me, "is not gonna work."

"Well I'm pretty content. And I don't give a shit what these people think."

"Maybe Dom may pay a little bit closer attention to you if he saw you in this," she said holding up a very, very short skirt, "instead of jeans that probably belonged to your brothers once."

"I don't care if Dom _notices_ me," I shot back.

"Yes you do. And it's fine. I mean it's a little gross because he's my brother, but whatever floats your boat."

"You're talkin' crazy, girl," I said, trying to keep composure.

"Letty, I know you like him. I can tell by the way you look at him. You may as well try to do something about it. You're not gonna get anywhere just sitting on the sidelines your whole life."

Girl had a point. But, I didn't want to change for him- clothes or any other way. And that skirt was definitely not my style. Mia liked dresses and skirts, I preferred everything but.

"I'm not wearing that," I told her.

"Just try it on." She tossed it in my direction and continued to rummage through her closet. I picked it up from where it had landed on the floor and held it up. Short. Very short. Thinking about the consequences of this action, I hesitated.

"You better have it on by the time I get out of this closet," Mia insisted.

"Bossy much?" I quipped back.

I slid off my jeans, which was an easy task considering they were at least a size or two bigger than I needed. I pulled up the skirt. I circled around in front on Mia's mirror. Jesus, you could almost see my ass. Mia was a white girl, she didn't have much of an ass. Those of us from Latin descent, a little more junk in the trunk.

"I…don't…think this is gonna work," I told her.

She poked her head out of the closet. "Are you kidding? You look awesome. Nice legs!"

I just looked at her as if she had gone mental. Although, I must admit, I did have nice legs. Too bad I wouldn't be able to bend over all night.

"Here, try this with it," she said, tossing something else in my direction. I picked it up and tried to figure it out.

"What is this supposed to be? The other half of the skirt?"

"No, silly, it's a shirt."

"This is not a shirt." I held it up. It may have been part of a shirt but was missing the bottom half. It looked like a quarter of a tank top, and not really the quarter that mattered to a flat chested thirteen-year-old.

"Just trust me, will ya?" she said, pulling out some more clothes and spreading them over the bed. She studied them like she was studying for a test. I didn't get it. It didn't seem to matter that much. They were just clothes. But, for the sake of argument, I pulled the teeny, tiny shirt on and looked in the mirror. I was pretty sure I had on more clothes last time I went to the beach.

"I like it!" Mia looked up at me.

"I feel like I'm wearing underwear."

"Well, your not."

"What are you gonna wear? You can't make me wear this and not do the same thing to yourself."

"I'm still trying to decide. What do you like better, this shirt with this skirt or with this one?"

"They both look the same to me."

"That's helpful."

"Well, you shouldn't have asked." I continued to look in the mirror. This outfit definitely didn't look like me. Maybe that was the point. But, I guess it was like Halloween.

"Alright, I'm gonna wear this one," she decided and quickly changed into an outfit that I thought looked a lot like what I was wearing, just a different color.

"Now for hair and makeup…" she started.

"Whoa, easy there Barbie. I'll change my clothes but you're not touching my hair and face." I backed up.

"Why? You wouldn't want to ruin this not-showered, dirty, carefree thing you have going on right now?" she joked.

"Ouch," I joked back.

"Just let me try. If you don't like it, you can undo it."

I don't actually know how long I was sitting in the chair. It seemed like forever. In reality, it was probably around fifteen minutes. She did stuff to my hair, I don't know what. And, stuff to my face, I don't know what. But when she spun the chair around to let me see myself in the mirror I was a little taken back. It was hard to imagine that the person in the mirror was actually me.

"So…what do you think?" she asked excitedly.

I didn't want to admit that she was right. I did look better. But, she was right. I did look better. "I guess it's worth a try."

Mia smiled smugly. We put on some heels, that were quite the struggle to walk in, and made our way back downstairs to the party. I felt a little ridiculous. But, no one at the party went to our school. Maybe no one would recognize me.

"Letty?" a very surprised Vince called from behind me.

Guess they would recognize me.

"You say anything and I swear to God I'll deck you," I told him as I turned around.

He smiled. I wanted to punch him.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"Easy crazy lady. It's just that you look good," he said. "You too Mia."

"Oh…well," was all I could say in response. Vince just kept walking. I noticed that his gaze lingered on Mia a few seconds longer than necessary.

"Ladies, ladies, ladies," Hector said, coming up and putting on arm around each of us. "You two are going to get me in trouble with tu hermano."

"Cool it, Hector. This was Mia's idea," I told him.

"I always pinned her for the brains of the operation," he responded leading us into the kitchen.

"So what does that make me?" I asked.

"The bronze."

I could live with that.

"You ladies want a beer?" he asked, walking towards the cooler and removing his arms from around us.  
"Yes," I said while Mia simultaneously said, "no."

Hector just looked back and forth between us, trying to figure it out.

"Come on, Mi. You did this to me. Now I need something to ease the pain. I'm doing this to you," I told her.  
"Fine," she relented and we both accepted beers from Hector.

I had never had a beer before, not a whole beer anyway. Mr. T had let us taste his from time-to-time, but never had I had a full one in my possession. I took advantage of the opportunity and brought the cool can to my lips. It tasted terrible but I wasn't going to let on.

We made small talk with Hector and a few more of Dom's friends that grazed in and out of the kitchen for a little bit. Just then, Vince and Dom came into the kitchen.

"Dude, I totally got something," Vince said, showing Dom a bottle of liquor.

Dom smiled, "shots." After that he briefly stumbled into me. I caught him, and felt his warm body press against me for a few brief seconds. "Excuse me sweetheart," he said without looking.

"No problem, Dom," I said.

"Oh shit," he looked over. "Didn't recognize you Letty."

"Figured."

"You got Mia-nized," he said.

"Huh?"

"You let Mia do…something."

"Oh…yeah."

"Looks good," he said. I could tell that he looked me up and down. It made me a little nervous. I felt like I was showing too much skin. I wanted to cover some more things up. "But you," he said, turning to Mia. "You're not wearing that here."

"Oh, Dom," Mia said dismissively.

"Seriously. Go change."

"No," Mia said, trying to mess with her brother. "I thought we were taking shots?"

Dom seemed stunned by the words coming out of his perfect little sister's mouth. I was a little shocked myself. Shots? Mia wanted to take shots? She had had all of about 3/4 of a beer, while I was on my third.

"You're not takin' shots," Dom commanded.

"Oh, come on Vee," she said, walking up to Vince, pressing her body flush with his and putting an arm around his neck seductively. "Can you pour me a tiny one?" Now it was obvious that she was just trying to piss Dom off. It was working.

"Sure," Vince smiled, looking down at her.

"Bro, no!" Dom said loudly to Vince. That did a pretty good job of snapping Vince out of his trance.

"No," Vince shook his head to Mia. "I can't do it."

Mia let go of Vince and laughed.

"She's gonna be a tough one in a couple of years," I said to Dom.

He looked at me and rubbed his head. "She's a tough one now. But between the two of you. Damn, we're gonna get in so many fights."

I smiled. I liked that Dom thought that way.

"Alright, enough of the bullshit. Mia, you can wear that as long as you don't tell Dad about, well, any of this," he said looking around at the madness.

"Deal," Mia said.

Mia and I stood there and watched Dom and Vince take shots of Jose. They took several. It was straight out of the bottle so it was hard to keep track of how many. Towards the end of the evening, I was getting a little drunk. And it was obvious that Dom had crossed the bridge. The party started to die down until it was just Vince, Dom, Leon, Jesse, Mia, and myself. We were watching televisions while Mia tried to clean up empty beer cans and bottles.

"Anyone gonna help?" she called in from the kitchen. No one responded.

"I'm either gonna go puke or pass out," Leon commented. He left the room and headed for the basement.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Jesse said and immediately followed in step.

"I think Vince has already, uh, passed out," I pointed for Dom to look at a snoring Vince.

"I think you're right," he said.

I reached over to the drawer on the end table and grabbed a marker. "Let's write on him," I smiled.

Dom looked back over at me. He smiled. He had a great smile. "I don't know," he hesitated.

"Pansy," I challenged.

"Pansy, huh?" he joked back, grabbing the marker out of my hand.

He walked over to Vince and drew a crooked mustache above his upper lip.

"Oh, that's the best you can do?" I asked, walking over and grabbing the marker from him.

I wrote 'HERPES' on his forehead, in all capital letters, just for effect. Dom laughed and we continued to fill up Vince's face with adolescent obscenities.

Mia came in from the kitchen and just stopped. She looked at me, at Dom, and then at Vince's face. She just shook her head in disapproval. "You guys will never grow up. I'm going to bed."

"I hope not," I commented back to no one in particular. I made my way back over to the couch.

Dom plopped down right beside me.

"So, did you have a good birthday?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, it was a pretty good one," he said. "You looked pretty hot tonight."

"You're drunk."

"So are you. Besides, is that always the way you accept a compliment?" he asked, turning his body to face me more directly.

"Probably," I laughed.

He just continued to look at me. I stopped laughing. I was trying to figure out what was going on. I felt nervous. I turned my head. He was still just looking at me. I wondered what he was looking at. But then, to my complete surprise, he leaned in. I didn't quite realize what was going on at first until I felt his lips on mine. Shocked, initially I failed to respond. But, after I came to my senses, my eyes closed. My lips embraced his. This was what I'd always wanted. I felt like it was my birthday. I felt his hand reach up and touch my cheek as the kiss continued. His tongue tickled my lips. I opened my mouth and welcomed him in. I felt him explore my mouth. I raised one hand and wrapped it around his neck. I don't know how long we kissed. But it seemed like forever, and yet it seemed all too quick. When I felt his lips pull away, I just sat there, eyes still closed. My lips were paralyzed. His breathing was heavier. I opened my eyes to look at him. His eyes were still shut. Slowly, his lids rose. He looked at me and smiled.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to just sit there like an idiot. I needed to get up. I needed to go. Go somewhere. Go to bed maybe. Go anywhere so I wouldn't pounce on him and start kissing him more. I needed to stay in control.

"Well," I said, slowly standing up. "Happy birthday."

He didn't respond. His eyes followed me as I left the room. I walked upstairs to Mia's room and climbed into the sleeping back that was set out on the floor. I knew I wasn't going to sleep. I was in love.

TBC

So what did you guys think? Read and Review


	3. Chapter 3

The final bell rang and I was so glad. Thursday at 3:00. It was that much closer to my absolute favorite time- Friday at 3:00. It meant two full days of freedom. I walked out of the school and searched the student parking lot for familiar faces. I noticed Mia with a group over in the corner and began to make my way over to them. But, I was stopped by a newly familiar face.

"Hey, didn't mean to get you in trouble earlier," Luke said, jumping in front of me.  
"Oh," I shrugged, "don't worry about it, man. If it hadn't been showing you where your class was I'm sure I'd have gotten in some other sorta shit."

"Still, I feel bad. And where I come from, food is a pretty good way of making amends."

"Food, huh?"

"Yeah, you know? The stuff you eat. Typically comes on a plate or some sort of a bowl."

"I know what food is, Hawaii."

"So? You down?"

I thought about it for a second. Food. He didn't really ask me on a date. He asked me for food. I guess, I've never been asked for 'food' before. It sort of sounded as though we were headed over to the feeding troughs. But, still, I was interested. "Yeah, I guess. If you want to."

"Oh, I'm in there like swimwear, baby," he smiled- still only a half-smile but I was beginning to realize that this may be his thing.

I laughed. "You won't get very far here using expressions like that, man. Sounds like a good way to get your ass kicked."

He didn't seem embarrassed and just continued to smile. "So, tonight? Tomorrow? I just moved here. I got no plans."

I thought for a second. I didn't want to miss the races tomorrow. Maybe tonight. "Tonight."

"Sweet. Well I got no idea where anything is around here but I can definitely pretend."

"We can just meet somewhere. How 'bout at a place called Rey's. It's on Taylors and the only one in town. 7:00. If you really wanna make _amends_, I bet you can find it," I told him, and walked away towards Mia and the group.

As I edged closer to Mia I noticed her eyeing me. I couldn't even approach the group before she pulled me aside.

"Who's that?" she asked eagerly.

"That new guy, from English, remember?" I asked. I don't think she had even looked at him during class when I had asked her. Ever since Dominic got sent to prison all Mia ever did was study. I guess it was a good distracter for her. But, I was beginning to think that it was causing her to miss out on life.

"No I don't remember that!" she exclaimed. "Lett, you can't get a new love interest and just not tell me about it."

"Chill out girl. I ain't got a love interest, new or otherwise," I informed her, a complete lie.

She just scoffed. "Yeah, right. Since when is Dom not your love interest?"

"That was a long time ago," I told her, trying to convince myself at the same time.

She just shot me a knowing glare. Sometimes I hated that Mia knew so much about me. "Whatever," she responded. "So you like…what's his name?"

"Luke and…" I just shrugged. "He's just another dude from our class."

"Uh huh, sure," she stated unbelievingly. "So what were you guys talking about then?"

Did I want to tell her? I was sure she would figure it out, one way or another. Mia had this uncanny ability to figure out everyone's secrets. Plus, I didn't really want to keep anything from her. That would look even more suspicious. But I also really didn't want this news getting back to Dom. Of course, I don't know why. It's not like Dom and I were a thing. And we wouldn't have the chance of being a 'thing' for another 1 to 3 years.

"Just he's new in town. Wanted to do something tonight."

"What are you guys gonna do?"

"Probably just go get something to eat."

Mia practically shrieked in my ear. "That's a date! You are going on a date with him? Oh my God, how exciting. What are you gonna wear?"

I looked at her freak out, as I stood there calmly. "It's not a date. And, I'm probably just going to wear this," I said, insinuating the fact that I was not planning on changing clothes.

"Letty, you can not wear _that_ on a date," she told me.

"Then I guess it's not a date," I said.

"Whatever you say," she relented. "But, he's pretty cute."

"Eh," I said, trying to act indifferent.

"At least let me help you pick out something to wear," she encouraged.

"No. It's not like that. I really don't care what I look like," I said. "And," I stopped her before she could even start, "do not even try to make any smart ass comments about what I'm wearing or I'll have to start a rumor that you slept with Vince."

"Well that's just cruel."

"I'm giving you plenty of warning," I joked. Poor Vince had been in love with Mia probably as long as I'd been in love with Dominic. Neither of us had had any luck with those elusive Torettos.

"Fine," she said, trying to pretend she didn't care, "wear what you want."

"Gee, thanks."

"So is he coming to pick you up?"

"We're meeting somewhere." Yes, vague was good.

"When?"

"After I get off work," I said, still vague. "Which reminds me, I gotta get to work."

"Chicken! You're just running away from having to talk to me about it," she said as I walked away from her and towards my car.

I didn't respond but just waved my hand in the air. Maybe I was trying to hide it from her, a little bit. But I couldn't really figure out why. I didn't want her to make a big deal out of it. I didn't even know what was going on and I didn't want to get Mia's hopes up if it was nothing.

I got to work after a short drive. The garage was in full swing, full of orders and bustling like hell. I quickly parked and made my way over to my locker. I slipped on some coveralls and walked over to the bay, to pick up where I'd left off the day before.

"Lett, what's up?" Vince asked from where he was sitting inside the hood of the car.

"Not a damn thing, man. You?" I asked, climbing on my crawler.

"Oh, you know, livin' the dream," he smiled sarcastically. I pulled myself under the car and became lost in the only world I truly understood. I didn't give another thought to Luke. I didn't think about Mia and the immense amount of questions I knew she would ask me tomorrow. I didn't think about Dom and what him being in prison meant to everyone. I just focused on the task at hand. A problem I actually had control over. A problem I could fix.

TBC

So I know it's short and I'm going to add a flashback, like I did with the last chapter. I just wanted to get an update out there.

R&R


	4. Chapter 4

This is the flashback- really it's just the second part of the previous chapter

I walked into the garage. It was hot. So hot. I could feel the beads of sweat forming on my forehead and I hadn't even done anything yet. I was the last to arrive. That was pretty typical. If I didn't have detention after school I usually got caught up with something else. Luckily my boss was Mr. T or I would have been fired before I was even legally hired.

"What's up, Let?" Vince asked. He was standing up in the closest bay looking into the hood of an Acura.

I shrugged. It was too hot to talk. A yawn escaped my lips.

"Wake up. Don't want an engine to accidentally fall on you. Got to stay on your toes little girl," Dom said, walking up behind Vince. I hated when he called me 'little girl'. It was so patronizing.

"Gee, Dom, that's really helpful. Thank you," I said to him sarcastically, while giving him the finger. I walked over to my locker. It was too hot to put on my coveralls. I slipped off my shirt, wearing just my sports bra from gym class underneath. It was sufficient though, I felt, given the extreme heat. Plus, I didn't care if it got dirty. Who was going to see it besides me? I slipped the legs of the coveralls on and tied off the sleeves at my waist.

I walked back to the front and towards the Toyota I had started working on yesterday. I looked at it, trying to remember where I had left off. Was it the clutch? Probably.

"Whoa, Letty, showin' a lil skin there, huh?" Dom joked, pinching my side as he walked by.

"Fuck you," I dismissed him. Though, I couldn't deny that any touch from Dom was nice.

He just laughed, walking back over to his current assignment. Tony was out today, out of town for a race. It was just the three of us and his other two employees (Joe and Calvin). Luckily they were a lot more serious than we were or very little would have gotten accomplished some days.

Several hours passed and the garage cooled down as the sun began to set. It was easy to tell when it was five o'clock by the way the sun edged closer towards the horizon and turned the sky into a myriad of colors.

"Alright, Dom, I'll see you tomorrow. If you talk to Tony, tell him I said 'good luck' at the race tomorrow," Joe said, leaving for the day. Calvin finished up the day trying to catch up on paperwork. I don't think the paperwork was every really 'caught up' but with a group of grease monkeys, no one was surprised.

"Pack it in, killer. We're about to close up," Vince tapped my shoe. It snapped me out of my daze. I rolled out and looked up at the two guys.

"Look, you can't work so hard. You're makin' us look bad," Dom joked.

"You do that all on your own. You don't need no help from me," I told him, standing up.

He rolled his eyes at me as he removed his work gloves and the grease and oil from himself with a rag.

"So, bro, whatchu doin' tonight?" Vince asked, as he followed suit.

Dom just smirked, a devilish look forming on his face. It peeked my curiosity. As I cleaned up, I couldn't help but try my best to ease drop.

"What's that look?" Vince questioned suspiciously.

Dom shrugged, antagonizing Vince.

"Come on, spill," he urged.

"Got a date," he let on.

"Shocker," Vince said, no surprise to anyone in the room. Although, Dom's dates were not exactly the 'dinner and movie' type of dates.

"With Amber," Dom said smiling.

"Henderson?" Vince pressed, full of curiosity.

Dom nodded.

"Amber Henderson?" I questioned in disbelief. "Why the hell would she go out with you?"

Amber was class president, on the track team, debate team, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She was not Dom's typical 'date'.

"Guess she recognizes all the talent," he replied cockily.

I scoffed, "probably just wants to piss her dad off."

"Either way. Daddy's little girl is always a good time."

"Ew, Dom, have you no decency?" I questioned.

"Probably not," he replied.

I dismissed his chauvinistic attitude. He loved to rub the fact that he got with a bunch of girls in, well, everybody's face.

"Well, don't forget to wrap it up, Dommy," I commented before leaving the garage. I didn't even bother to change. I didn't want to even give a glimmer of a hint that I cared what Dom did. Although his many female escapades did secretly bother me.

There was a soft breeze in the air as I walked the couple of blocks back to my house. I could have caught a ride with Dom or Vince. But, sometimes I just liked to walk. It helped me clear my head. Nothing but the sound of my feet against the pavement and the noises of the city. It helped to silence whatever internal dialogue I may have come up with.

I got to the house. My mom and aunt both had their cars parked in the driveway. I made my way to the door and entered the house. The smell of food immediately hit my nostrils. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I walked into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" I walked over to the stove to see what concoction my mom was working on.

"Nada for you mija until you take a shower," she said, eyeing me.

"Ugh, Ma, come on. I'm hungry," I whined.

"Then you better hurry up," she said, unyielding.

I tromped upstairs and started the shower. I removed my coveralls and threw them into the growing pile of dirty clothes that already littered my bedroom floor. I opened my dresser drawer and pulled out an old tee-shirt and pair of shorts. I walked into the bathroom, the steam radiating from the shower was already starting to fog up the mirror.

I jumped in and quickly washed my hair and attempted to remove all visible grease and grime from my body. As quickly as I was in, I was out. I toweled off, put on the clean clothes, and ran back downstairs. I slicked my hair back and threw it into a ponytail as I came back into the kitchen.

"That was fast," my aunt commented, setting the table. "What do you want to drink, Leticia?"

"Makers, straight up," I replied. I knew that Mr. T liked Makers Mark. I mainly said it to get a rise out of them. There was not one ounce of my being that thought she would actual comply to this request.  
She and my mom just shot me a look. A look telling me, _not in a million years_.

"What? It's been a long day," attempting to make a defense. They did not find the humor it in. I felt as though my humor was completely wasted on those two.

"I think you have been hanging out at the Toretto's garage too much. You need to do other things. Things with people your age. Girls your age," my mom said. I had heard it before. At least weekly.

I just rolled my eyes and got up to pour myself a glass of water. "Where's E.J. and Miguel?" I asked in reference to my brothers.

"Miguel is still at work. E.J. was home earlier but he went out with Hector just before you got home."

We had dinner. My mom and my aunt made useless chatter about things that only pertained to them. I couldn't wait to get up from the table. I just wished I had plans for the night. I considered calling Mia to see what she was doing. But I didn't want Dom to answer. I wanted to pretend like he did not exist for one evening.

I got up from the table and cleaned up while my mom and aunt continued their in-dept discussion while watching reruns of _Dallas_ in the living room. I looked at them and prayed that I would never turn into that.

As I finished putting away the last of the dishes, I picked up the phone to call Mia.

"Hello?" she answered on the other end.

"What's up, Mi," I asked, trying to stretch the phone cord as far as I could so that no one could hear.

"Hey, Letty. What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing, just finished with dinner. How 'bout you?"

"The same. Cleaning stuff up."

"What are you getting into tonight?'

"I don't know. I hadn't gotten that far. Do you want to do something?" she asked.

"Yeah, just as long as your brother's not there."

She laughed.

"I'm serious," I replied.

"You don't seem to mind seeing him _every_ single day at the garage. But, okay. Whtatever. He's not here anyway. He said he's got some kind of date. Anyway, he and Vince went somewhere the second dinner was over," she told me.

Well that was one less thing I had to worry about, for now anyway. I guessed he was serious about that date with Amber. Whatever, I didn't care. He could go out with whomever he wanted. What did it matter to me? Nothing…I kept repeating these things in my head. Maybe if I thought them enough, I would actually start feeling it.

"It's just a job," I defended. "And, I'm good at it. The fact that your brother is there has absolutely nothing to do with it."

"I can see your nose growing right through the phone you liar."

"Ugh!" I replied, exasperated. "Listen, are we gonna talk about your brother all night or are we gonna do something a little more interesting?"

"What did you have in mind?" she asked.

"I don't know. E.J.'s with Hector, but I don't really wanna hang out with them. There's nothin' to do here. This town sucks. L.A. is freakin' dead."

"Well just come over. We'll figure something out. I'll call some people, see if anything fun is going on."

"Alright. I'll be by in a little bit," I told her and hung up the phone .Why was there never anything for fourteen-year-olds to do? If you didn't have a car, you were screwed, stranded.

I went upstairs and changed out of my pajamas into some more normal clothes. I looked in the mirror and stared at my reflection for a few minutes. There really wasn't anything I could do. I was stuck with this wavy, black hair, and this miniature height. I supposed that I could wear heels and straighten my hair but I didn't feel like exerting that much effort.

"Ma, I'm goin' over to Mia's," I called out as I ran down the stairs.

"Wait," she called out. Damn, so close.

"What?" I asked, annoyed, as I edged the bottom of the stairs.

"You aren't going to hang out with Dominic are you?" she questioned suspiciously.

I wrinkled my brow at her. "No," I replied, giving her more attitude than I should. "I'm going to hang out with Mia. Dom's not even there. Besides, I thought you liked the Torettos."

"I do like the Torettos. But I have a feeling about Dominic. He seems like trouble. You need to stay away from him," she warned.

"Don't worry, Ma. It's a non-issue."

I walked towards the door and was halfway out when she asked, "when are you coming home?"

"Later," I replied.

"By curfew," she called out just as I closed the door.

I walked down the street to the Toretto house. My Mom was worried about me hanging out with Dom? Yeah right. In my dreams. Dom and I didn't 'hang out'. He had Ashley's and Nicole's and Tiffany's to 'hang out' with. His social calendar was pretty booked.

"Mia?" I called out as I let myself into the side door of the house.

"In here," she called from the living room.

I made my way in there to find her sitting on the couch watching the same damn _Dallas_ rerun that my mom and aunt were watching. Geez. I just couldn't escape it.

"So…this doesn't look like what I want to do tonight. What else you got?" I asked her as I sat on the arm of the couch.

"This is the one where they reveal who shot J.R. It's a classic," she replied, dismissing me.

"Yeah, like back in early 1980-something," I replied. "So, did you talk to anybody?"

"Yeah a couple of people. Seems like everyboyd's kinda lookin' for something to do."

We sat there for a minute, watching commercials and finding out, for the thousandth time that

Sue Ellen was framed and it was actually Kristin that shot J.R. I had a brilliant, beyond brilliant idea. I could literally feel the light bulb lighting up over my head.

"I've got it. An awesome idea. I'm a genius," I told Mia excited.

"Wow, I'm excited. Let's hear it," she said, though she didn't really sound very excited.

"So, Dom's gone, probably for the night, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"And your dad, he's gone until at least Sunday, right?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, a little more hesitantly.

"So, let's have people over here!"

Mia just smiled and started laughing.

"It's foul-proof," I assured.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," she repeated.

"Why not?"

"Have you lost your mind? Have a party? No. I'm not having a party. That is not, not something I'm gonna do."

"Come on, Mi. Maybe not like a party, but just some people over. Who's gonna find out? Come on," I urged, stronger.

"You're crazy. I cannot have a party."

"Just like a couple of people. You know that would be fine. And, hey, we can invite Ryan," I tempted. Mia had the biggest crush on Ryan. I couldn't figure out why. But, nonetheless, if it would help my party plight, I was going to use it.

"I don't know," she said, starting to give in.

"Mia, we have like four people over here. What's the worst that could happen? What, you might have fun? Dear Lord, not fun!"

"You're a bad influence!" she said, jokingly yelling at me.

"Hey, I've been called worse," I jumped down off the couch and ran over to the phone. "So, who should we invite?"

"Ryan!" she almost squealed.

"That's all you," I said, handing her the phone.

Mia proceeded to call Ryan, who happened to be with Seth. They decided to come by. Then we called Kate and Heather to come over. Kate was dating Spencer, who also had to be invited. But, Spencer was with Craig and Tyler, who also wanted to come.

"Okay, that's it. I don't want this to get out of control," Mia said, putting the phone down and moving it out of my reach. "That's seven people. You said four!"

"Relax, Mia. There've been more people here at a barbeque. I think it's gonna be okay. Take a chill pill and try to just enjoy the fact that you have a house completely to yourself."

"Well, you better be right," she warned. "So, are you gonna change?"

"What do you think?" I asked her

"Well, _I'm_ gonna change. Here," she threw me the remote. "I'll be right back."

"See you in an hour," I joked as she ran upstairs.

I flipped through the channels. Nothing was on. I watched _Wheel of Fortune_ for a few minutes but quickly became bored with that. Just then, another brilliant idea flooded my mind. I was really on a roll tonight. I threw the remote down on the sofa and ran upstairs, taking them two at a time.

"Whoa, where's the fire," Mia called as I dashed past her bedroom.

"I just remembered something," I said as I made my way into Dom's bedroom.

"What are you doing?" she asked, peeking out of her room and following me over to Dom's.

"Dom hides liquor in here," I told her, turning on his light and surveying the room.

"Letty, come on," Mia said, as if I couldn't be serious.

"No, he does. And I bet he's shitty at hiding things." I made my way over the threshold. Just then, I stepped on something squishy. I looked down at my shoe and almost threw up. "Oh, God!"

"What is it?" Mia asked, coming into the room further.

"Fucking condom!" I yelled. "Get it off my shoe!"

"Ew! I'm not touching that!"

"It's gross! I'm gonna get herpes! Get it off, Mia! Get it off!"

"No way! Just take your shoe off. I'm not touching that. It's my brother. Disgusting!"

I reached down and tried not to gag as I delicately ripped the shoe off my foot and threw it across the room. "Why in the hell does your brother have used condoms on his floor?"

Mia shrugged, "I don't know, he's a disgusting human being. Why would I know?"

"I'm gonna puke. I probably caught some crazy skank STD."

"I don't think you're gonna catch it through your shoe. Let's just get out of here before anything else creeps out of the corners," Mia said, turning to leave.

I had not completed my mission, though. I walked over to his bed and looked underneath. Sure enough, two bottles of liquor and a stack of magazines, which I chose to ignore, littered the area.

"Ah ha!" I said, reaching under, careful to avoid touching the magazines. I pulled out a bottle of vodka and a bottle of whiskey. "Found it."

"You're not seriously gonna drink those, are you?"

"Not all of them. I don't wanna wake up tomorrow dead. But I may have a drink. You should too. This may be the chill pill you need to calm your ass down," I told her, heading out of the room.

"We really shouldn't drink, Letty."

"You are so after-school-special. I love it. Maybe if you have a drink you'll actually be able to say more than two words to Ryan instead of just standing back in the corner like you usually do." I could tell she was considering it.

I walked down the stairs as Mia finished up her primping routine. I made my way to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. I did not have a lot of experience with alcohol, besides what I had seen other people do and taking a sip of Mr. T's beer or a glass of my mom's wine once in a blue moon. I took out several different juices and sodas. I got down two glasses, filled them with ice, halfway with vodka, and then just began pouring splashes of the random mixers into each glass. The final product looking to be a dark shade of pink. I stirred each drink with a spoon and took a sip. It was the most wretched thing I had ever tasted. But, I was fourteen, so I continued to drink it.

Mia walked downstairs and I handed her a glass.

"What is this?" she questioned smelling it and immediately turning up her nose.

"I don't know," I smiled, taking another baby sip out of mine. She attempted to taste hers and started to cough.

"That's gross."

"Seems to be a theme for the night."

We sat down on the couch with our completely repulsive drinks and watched television while we waited for everyone to arrive. It didn't take more than thirty minutes before all the guests had arrived. A few of the guys had brought beer. I made Kate and Heather one of my horrid drinks. We put a tape in the tape deck and turned off the television.

After about an hour, the guys had gone through several beers and the girls had made a pretty good dent in their vodka creation. Everyone was in very high spirits. I noticed Mia and Ryan involved in a very deep conversation over to one side of the room. Kate and Spencer clearly just wanted to make out. But, everyone else was just singing along to the music and shooting the breeze.

"Letty has it," I heard Mia say mid-conversation.

"What've I got?" I interjected.  
"That mixed tape we made with Dr. Dre and Naughty by Nature on it," she said. Mia was kind of drunk. It made me laugh. She was a lot more excitable after an insanely strong drink.

"Yeah," I said.

"Go get it!" she urged.

"It's in my bookbag," I told her.

"So?"

"I left it at the garage."

"It's like a block and a half away. Come on. Go get it. Please," she begged. I took it that Ryan probably wanted to hear it. I didn't really mind making the walk. After half of that drink, it might be fun to walk somewhere. I was considering it.

"Yeah, that'd be fun to listen to," Craig said out of the blue.

"You don't even know what all's on it," I laughed.

"Well, only one way to show me," he said. "Come on, go get it. I'll walk with you if you want."

"I think I can handle it on my own, but thanks," I told him.

I got up and made my way to the door. "Letty," Mia called, rushing over to me. "You sure you don't want Craig to walk with you? I think he likes you."

"Yeah, that's why I'm sure," I assured her. I put on a pair of her shoes because, God knows I wasn't going to touch mine anytime soon, and made my way outside.

All the stars were out and the air was warm. The breeze from earlier was still present. It was one of those great California nights. I heard all sorts of sounds in the distance, but I could still, faintly, hear the beginning sounds of summer. I got lost in my thoughts and before I knew it, I was at the garage. I checked my pockets for the keys, something I should have done prior to leaving the house, but luckily I felt them and quickly pulled them out.

As I made my way over to the door, I noticed that there was a light on. I heard noise too. It sounded like noise, but was hard to make out because of the thick walls. I assumed one of the guys left something on, and planned to point out their irresponsibility the next day. I went to unlock the door but noticed that it was already unlocked. Without a second thought, I pulled it open. I could not believe my eyes.

There, right on top of the Toyota I had been slaving over the past few days, was Dominic Toretto. But that wasn't what shocked me. He wasn't alone. There was Amber, practically naked, laying on top of the hood. They were…I had to rub my eyes. They were clearly about to start having sex. I couldn't move. My body was frozen. I knew Dom had had sex. But I'd never actually…seen progression of it. Fuck. My heart sank. It was one thing to hear about it. But there he was, kissing another girl- to say the least.

I don't know how long I stood there. Time was nonexistent at that moment. But then, Dom noticed me.  
"Fuck, Letty, what are you doing here?" he yelled, jumping off her and picking up an article of clothing from the ground.

"I…uh," I couldn't speak. I wanted to run.

"Shit," he called out. "I mean. We were just…um. What, what, what are you doing here?"

That pissed me off. I think it was a combination of the complete devastation of actually seeing him with another girl, and his idiotic stammering that caused me to snap.

"Me! I just came to get something. What the fuck are you doing here? I've worked on that car all week!" I yelled, as if that was some sort of justification.

I suppose all that track training had really paid off because Amber was up and off the car so quick, I barely saw her movements. She started gathering up her clothes and mumbling something about needing to go home.

"Jesus, Amber. Fuck, listen Letty…can you maybe give us a second?" Dom yelled back.

"Whatever, asshole," I yelled, turning around and slamming the door. I just stood there. I heard Dom, his voice barely audible, but I imagined he was trying to calm the girl down. No doubt, trying to get her to pick up where they left off. What a man-whore. How could I ever have liked him?

I started to make a few steps away from the door when I saw a something blonde and tan run by me. It took me a minute to realize that it was Amber that had just flown by. I think the swift movements and the alcohol caused me to hesitate for a minute. What the hell just happened? That sucked! I'd seen Dom with another girl. I wasn't mad. I was heartbroken.

I don't know how many minutes had elapsed but Dom was by my side, fully dressed.

"So, I gotta be honest, you're really not an effective wingman," he joked.

I just glared at him. I couldn't decide which part of his body I wanted to punch first. I decided to just take a swing and see where my fist landed. Turns out, it landed in his face.

"Jesus. What the fuck was that all about? I'm the one with fuckin' blue balls here!" he commented, not mad, merely perturbed.

"Dom, you can't do that shit at the garage. That's our place," I said without even thinking. But then, I realized what I had said. I didn't want him to think anything of it. I had to correct it. Quickly. "I mean, you know, you, me, and Vince's place. It's sacred, man. You can't taint it like that."

Dom just let out a little chuckle, rubbing his jaw. "Sorry. Didn't realize it was practically your church, Let. I was just thinkin' it'd be hot and make a good story."

"You're…you're impossible," I said quietly.

At that point I realized that Dom and I was just an illusion. It was never going to happen.

"Well, looks like my date's over," he joked. "What are you doin' tonight?"

Just then I remembered the party. Dom couldn't come back to the house. I had to think of something.

"Nothing, we're not doing anything. Really. We're just watching stupid movies that Mia likes. You'd hate it. You should try to catch up with Vince or something. Really. You'd be bored out of your mind."

He looked at me funny. "You're a shitty liar," he smiled. "Come on. I can't wait to see the after-hours life that Letty leads. Where are we going?"

Shit. He was going to be pissed.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

The flashback is over…now on to what may happen with Luke. Looking at the timeline and the movie, these parts with Luke are probably around 1996-ish. But, trust me, I will let you know what went down between Dom and Mia's party.

"Quittin' time, killer," Vince said to me as he kicked my shoe when he walked by. I finished screwing in the last bolt and rolled out from under the car.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and stood up. I quickly noticed that I was a mess, my hair in utter disarray and more grease on me than in the car.

"So, where you goin' tonight, sexy," Vince joked, making a sideways comment regarding my overall appearance.

"Shut up," I said, throwing my work gloves and hitting him in the face. Bull's eye.

"I think Hector and I were gonna throw down a couple of brewskies at Craig's tonight, you down?" he asked. Then he continued to give me a hard time by saying, "you know E.J. will be there, so you get to hang out with tu hermano."

"Oh, score," I laughed sarcastically. These days, E.J. and I were always getting tossed in the same social situations. For the most part, it was fine. We got along. And it's not like he had to contend with many guys trying to hit on me. I think my complete lack of allure did a pretty good job of keeping the males at an arms length.

"So you want me to pick you up or you gonna drive?" he asked as we walked over to our lockers to change

"Um, actually, I'll probably just catch up with guys later. I got somethin' I got to do first," I said, nonchalantly.

He looked at me and smiled, suspiciously. "Whatchu got goin' on?"

"Stuff," I responded.

"What kinda stuff?"

"Jeez, bro, nosey much?"

"Uh, yeah. Usually just to drive you crazy but now I'm intrigued."

"I got stuff to do, okay? I got my own life, too. Don't think you know everything that's goin' on with me."

"Alright, damn crazy lady. You go do your own shit. If you can find time in that busy calendar of yours to hang, you know where we'll be," he said, trying to joke and make light of the situation. It probably just pissed me off further.

I slammed my locker and walked out, failing to reply. I shouldn't really have gotten mad at Vince. But, I felt like everyone always had to pry into my life. It was like I couldn't do anything without telling everyone. And this, this was a different type of situation. This wasn't something I was ready to share. I knew they'd just jump to conclusions and I wasn't ready to deal with that drama.

I drove home, the windows open, feeling the warm air caress my skin and flow freely through my hair. I looked at the clock. 6:00. I still had an hour before I was supposed to meet Luke. But, I was beginning to have second thoughts. I didn't know what this was all about and I wasn't sure if I wanted to find out. I'd been on dates before but it was always more for something to do, sheer entertainment, than an actual attraction. I just couldn't decide if I was actually, finally, attracted to someone who wasn't Dominic Toretto. If so, it was about damn time.

I pulled up to the house and parked behind my aunt. Lord knows she wasn't going to be going anywhere. I noticed my brother's car in the drive and walked into the house to the all too familiar and irritating sounds of family.

"I'm home," I called out, running upstairs before my mom or aunt could talk to me.

I made my way down the hall, noticing E.J. rummaging around his room. I approached his door. For the past couple of weeks, he had been experimenting with different recipes of Mama Juana. It was a traditional Dominican liquor drink that included rum, wine, vanilla and honey. The bottle had a number of things that, to me, just resembled leaves and twigs. But, apparently there was some merit to this. He was all about it. It was his temporary obsession. Each batch had to marinate for a week. I had tasted some of them. Some were horrible. Some were decent. None were great.

"So, E. how's that Mama Juana been cookin' this week?"

"I think this is gonna be my best batch," he smiled.

"You say that every time and you always use too much vanilla.." His batch last week tasted like a really disgusting dessert.

"I'm serious this time. Come try it out."

I shrugged, couldn't hurt. I made my way into E.J.'s room, so completely covered in clothes and crap it was hard to move. He pulled the bottle down from the shelf. It had turned a delightfully dark brown color. That looked promising. In the past, he had never been one to follow a recipe. He just poured shit in the bottle and hoped for the best. But hopes don't create the best liquor.

He grabbed two shot glasses from his immense collection and poured us each a shot. He handed me a glass before we entered into out typically drinking routine.

"Never above you," he said, placing his shot glass just above mine. "Never below you," he continued, placing his glass underneath mine.

"Always right there with you," we said in unison, clinking our glasses together before downing the shots. It sounds corny but it was a sibling tradition.

"So, what do you think?" he asked excitedly.

"Got to be honest, I think this is your best batch ever," I said, placing the empty shot glass down on his dresser.

"Told ya."

"Alright, ese, whatever. Listen, I got to go get ready," I told him, turning to leave.

"You comin' to Craig's?"

"Probably later on. I'm gonna go eat first."

"You got a date or somethin'?" he asked suspiciously.

I chose not to respond. I just shot him a look and left the room. I could hear him starting to laugh and make inappropriate comments in Spanish as I slammed his door behind me. I didn't know if it was a date or not so I decided the avoidance route was the best bet.

I hopped in the shower and tried to de-gross-ify myself. Then I had to decide what to wear, something I'd relished in never giving much thought to at any point in my life. But, for this, I thought. I didn't want to look like I was trying. But, I didn't want to look like I completely didn't care- just in case I decided that I may have feelings for him.

"Yo, Lett," E.J. said, barging in my room without knocking. I hated living at home.

"Fuck, E.J., ever heard of knockin'? Come on," I said, standing in my towel in front of my brother was not my ideal situation.

"Jesus, take a pill, bitch. You just got a letter," he said, tossing it on my bed.

"Bye," I told him suggestively. He rolled his eyes at me and left the room. I loved my brother because we got along well. But he had an uncanny ability to piss me off more than anyone I'd ever met. Well, maybe except for Dominic.

I walked over to the bed, out of curiosity. I knew who the letter was from. I only got letters from one person. And for the past several months, I had kept every letter he had ever sent me. And I always wrote him back. I typically went through at least one draft of the letter before I was willing to actually send it. But, sure enough, it was from him. It was from Dom.

Shit. I wanted to read it. I wanted to read it so badly. But, I looked at the clock. 6:30. I had to get dressed and get a move on. It took at least 20 minutes to get everywhere in L.A. I was conflicted. Dom or Luke? I supposed that Dom's letter could wait. I wanted to see what this "food" thing was all about with Luke.

I threw on some jeans and a black tank, combed my hair, and slipped on a pair of flip flops. I looked in the mirror. This would have to suffice.

I barreled down the stairs and yelled out, "I'll be back later. Going to get some food with a friend."

With that, I hightailed it out the door before I got the third degree from the mom-squad in the other room. Even though she was just my aunt, she took just as active a roll as my own mom. It was beyond annoying. One pestering mom was bad enough.

I drove to the restaurant. I had the stereo off. I needed to think. I needed to figure out what was going on here. I missed Dom. And, even though we didn't have anything going on, it felt weird going out to meet another guy. I wished I was driving out to meet Dom. I'd missed him since he'd been gone. I felt like Dom was the closest thing I had to a person that actually got me, understood me, and all my eccentric 'isms'. That didn't come around every day. But, maybe I should just accept that Dom was gone. He wasn't interested when he was around. The fact he was locked up in Lompoc really decreased any likelihood of us getting together. Maybe I needed to become a little more grounded.

I parked in the parking lot of the restaurant. I looked around at the cars. I didn't know which was his. None of the cars stood out to me as impressive. So, obviously he wasn't a gear head. Damn, I was sure I would have nothing in common with this cute Hawaiian. But, I was here. I had to go inside.

I took a deep breath and got out of the car. I walked into the restaurant and scanned. I saw him in a booth at the back. I slowly walked over. I was a little nervous. Why?

"You came," Luke said, standing up as I walked up to the table. He sounded a little surprised.

"I came," I confirmed.

When I sat down, so did he. It was a little awkward. I didn't know what to say. I noticed his mouth was opening to say something just as the waitress came up.

"Can I get you guys anything?" she asked, holding up her pencil and pad.

"Um, yeah, I'll just get a burger. And coke."

"Fries okay?" she asked me.

"Yeah."

"And for you?" she asked Luke.

"Um…" he said, looking at the menu.

"Chicken sandwich," he said. "And, coke's fine with me."

"Fries?"

"Yeah."

So he wasn't a burger guy? That may be a deal breaker. The waitress nodded at us and walked away.

"So," he started. "How are you?"

"Oh, swell," I said. I didn't mean for it to come out quite as sarcastically as it sounded. But, what was done was done. No regrets.

"Well…swell," he responded, smiling nervously. "So, is this place good?"

"Not really. But I still come here a lot for some reason."

"Well that makes…no sense," he smiled. We both shared a small laugh. He was right. It wasn't that great. There were tons of restaurants in L.A. and I still came here all the time. I tried to remember why. And then I did. Dominic. Dominic loved their fries. French fries were his vice, one of many vices. We always came here together, after work, before work, during work. But usually it would just be the two of us. I loved those times. Sometimes other people would come and it was always disappointing.

"So, Luke, you lived in Hawaii forever, or what?" I asked, more trying to snap myself out of a trip down memory lane than trying to find out information about him. But, regardless, it seemed to work.

"I was born in Arkansas but moved to Hawaii when I was about eight maybe, no nine. I was nine," he said, wrinkling his brow in thought.

"Why?" I followed up.

"You really wanna know? Have to promise not to laugh," he said, pointing at me accusingly.

"I make no promises," I smiled devilishly.

"Alright, well have you ever heard of the Renaissance Festival? Do they do those around here?"

"Renaissance Festival? No. I don't…know what that is," I answered.

"Well people dress up in Renaissance-themed clothing and perform, essentially, Renaissance-themed activities like jousting and archery, shit like that. It's kind of like a traveling fair."

"Okay, sounds…interesting."

"Well, my mom ran off with some guy from the Renaissance Festival."

"You've got to be shitting me?"

"I shit you not. I wouldn't make that up, trust me. I'd rather make up something a lot cooler. Like, she ran off with the CIA or some espionage story. But, it is the sad truth of my life."

"Well, damn. I'm sorry. Is that kind of like running off with the circus?"

"Probably worse. I don't think those people really have any talents."

"Hm. That's a bummer, man."

"It was a long time ago. And, after that, my Dad just wanted a change of scenery. So, he moved me and my brothers down to Honolulu and then we moved around the islands a couple of times after that before finally setting in the northern part."

"That's cool. So, you surf?"

"Like it's goin' out of style."

He was so lame. It made me smile.

"Why you in L.A. now, then?"

"Well my oldest brother, Noah, he came to California about two years ago. But, he got arrested and sentenced about 3 months ago. So, Dad moved us up here to be closer to him. Visit him. Support him. I don't know. One of those I guess."

"Arrested, huh?" I said. The word sounded so bad. Had such a negative connotation, which I guess made sense. But when you actually knew a person that was arrested, it meant something different. I knew what he was going through. It sucked. And having to tell people that someone you cared about was in jail totally sucked. The expression that people got on their faces, like you cared about a monster. It was horrible.

"Yep, assault with a deadly weapon."

"That sucks." Reminded me of someone I knew.

"Yeah. It does. And it sucked even more to have to move here."

"You don't like L.A.?"

"That's not really it. I just didn't want to move. I had friends. I had a life. Now, I don't. I was scared shitless to start school that day. I mean going from my tiny ass high school in Kaapau to a public school in L.A. It was….really different."

"You're like an insanely honest guy, aren't you," I commented. I would never be that up front with someone, anyone. To get personal information from me was like pulling teeth. And he just came out with it. I guess it was a nice change from the guys I typically hung around (Vince, Leon, E.J.) who acted like they had no personal problems and anything that could be construed as a problem was just too minor to deal with.

"Not usually. Just around you, it seems." I could tell he was nervous at saying this because he kept smiling and shifting around on his side of the booth.

"Hm," I said. What follows that up? He was really honest with me? Why? Did I look like a shrink or something?

"So I think I've told you a good bit of my life story up to this point. Tell me about you."

Damn.

"Me, huh?" Now it was my turn to get a little nervous.

"You don't like to talk about you?"

"There are subjects I prefer more."

"Like what?"

"Pretty much anything but," I said.

"Why is that? You got a lot of crazy shit?"

"I mean…no. Probably not. Some crazy shit. But not an extreme amount."

"Well, let's start simple. Where you from? L.A.?"

"Dominican Republic."

"Yeah? That's pretty awesome." He was surprised. His facial expressions were really easy to read. Again, a nice change.

"Yeah, I can see how someone might think that." I tried to sound indifferent when I said this but obviously I didn't pull it off well.

"So you didn't like it?"  
"It was just really different. We didn't have much, but no one did so you didn't really notice. I like it here a lot more."

"What made you move?"

"My dad died and my mom needed some help. My aunt was living here."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

I shrugged. I didn't like to talk about my dad with strangers.

"So what else?"

"Nothing. I'm really not at all that interesting."  
"I doubt that. Letty from auto shop. Well tell me something random."

I thought about it for a second. "I have a tape for every mood I could possibly ever be in."

"Yeah? That's cool. What were you listening to on the way over here?"

"Nothing, actually. My own thoughts. Sometimes that can be loud enough," I admitted.

"Oh, that doesn't sound like a good sign," he smiled. He was a really attractive guy. I had noticed it before but now, with him staring at me, trying to get to know me, I saw him a little different. The way his bangs fell in his eyes until he tossed his head to the left, exposing his eyes. They were a deep green, almost a hunter green color. His eyebrows, making a straight line across those eyes, deep as a forest. His cheek bones, high, pronounced, but his skin was soft. His nose was probably the most ideal nose I'd ever seen on a face. And his lips. I had to take notice. His upper lip, a very pronounced cupid's bow, but not as thick as his bottom. His lips, much redder than typical lips. It caught my breath.

I changed the subject. "So you got another brother too?"

"I do. Levi. We're twins, actually."

"Really? Identical?"  
"No, fraternal." Figures. I wouldn't think there could be two of this.

"So, he's at the high school too?"

"Not exactly. Levi's dropped out. He's got a lot of problems. He does a lot of drugs and has been arrested god knows how many times. Mainly he's just been arrested for small things like rolling houses and public drunkenness. He just can't seem to get his shit straight."

"Wow, so you're like the golden child in the family."

"I didn't have a lot of competition. But if I can make it a little bit longer, I'll be the first person in my family to graduate from high school."

"Me too," I said. None of my other friends were in this position. Some of them may have had only one parent to graduate, or both, but no one that I was close to knew what it was like to be the first person that would graduate.

"It's a lot of pressure isn't it?" he asked thoughtfully.

I felt this. I had never told anyone, though. I didn't like school and I never really cared about being an honor roll student. But, I did have a lot of pressure, both internally and externally, to pass and make it through.

"Yeah."

"We went to private school for, I guess, maybe a year or so. It was like a really fancy private school that will pretty much accept anything as long as you pay tuition. But Noah managed to be the first kid in history to get kicked out."

"What did he do?"

"It was really a sequence of things but the thing that finally topped it off was that he got in a fight. Shoved some guy up against a locker and the kid's braces cut through his lip and really fucked up his shit."

"Damn. Sucks for that guy."

"You got brothers or sisters?"

"Two brothers."

"And?"

"They're both older and both dropped out of school. Miguel lives with his girlfriend. She's knocked up so guess there's gonna be a baby."

"That's typically what happens when someone gets 'knocked up'," he said, being a smart ass. I liked smart asses. And it really worked on him.

"Yeah, that was my guess too. Um, and E.J. he works at a bar/restaurant thing called El Gato Negro. It's not far from here."

"So you're like the golden child then, too, huh?"

I couldn't help but laugh at this. "I guess."

"Perfect."  
"I've been described as a lot of things. That's never been one of them."  
"Well, it's about damn time."

This comment made me do a double take. Did he mean it the way I heard it? I couldn't tell if he was completely full of shit. Or if he was…something else.

TBC


End file.
